The 2016 PROSALES 100 survey, released Tuesday by BUILDER parent Hanley Wood's PROSALES magazine, reports significant growth among the nation’s largest pro-oriented construction supply firms: Sales rose 10.2% in 2015 from 2014 to $41.74 billion. Companies that do at least 35% of their business (by revenue) with professional builders increased the number of facilities by 9.7% and grew payrolls by 10.5%, the survey said.
Among key findings:
- Four of the top 12 firms and nine out of 100 on last year’s list are missing in 2016 because of mergers and acquisitions in 2015. Additionally, because most of the acquiring companies are in the top 10 of the PROSALES 100, those 10 firms’ share of the overall market grew dramatically last year.
- This 2016 PROSALES 100’s $41.74 billion in total sales is the biggest since 2006 and represents an 81% gain since the PROSALES 100’s low point of $22.97 billion in 2009. The number of facilities owned by PROSALES 100 companies has increased 27% over that same period.
- Two giants in their categories dominate the list. Specialty dealer ABC Supply took the top spot for the sixth straight year with $5.9 billion in total sales, 99% of it to pros. Builders FirstSource (BFS), a full-service lumberyard that last year acquired fellow full-service dealer ProBuild, actually took in more total dollars than ABC Supply, posting $6.07 billion in revenue. BFS ranked second on the list as only 90% of the sales were to professional contractors.
- No other company on the list was even half as big as the top two, but the next eight all reported billion-dollar results. BMC Stock Holdings—created by the merger of BMC with Stock Building Supply—moved to third place, followed by Beacon Roofing Supply and 84 Lumber. The next five are Allied Building Products, US LBM (the fastest-growing company on the list, showing a 69.6% jump in revenue thanks to numerous acquisitions), SRS Distribution, L&W Supply, and Carter Lumber.
“The 10 biggest companies account for $28.84 billion of the $41.74 billion that the entire PROSALES 100 racked up in sales for 2015,” said Craig Webb, PROSALES editor-in-chief. “That 69.1% share of the total is nearly eight points more than it was for last year’s list. And the growth wasn’t just because of M&A deals. The top 10 firms saw their revenues rise 11.3% versus the next 90 companies’ 8%.”
PROSALES 100 companies generally fit into three groups: traditional lumberyards that focus on selling wood and other building products; lumberyards that also have manufacturing operations, typically to build trusses and wall panels or put the final touches on door assemblies; and specialty dealers, which focus on selling a narrow variety of products, such as roofing or insulation. Specialty dealers tend to be bigger; there are only 12 in this year’s PROSALES 100, but they account for 37% of the entire PROSALES 100’s sales. The 56 lumberyards with manufacturing capabilities account for 54% of total sales, while the 32 lumberyards without any manufacturing figured in just 9% of all sales.
Click here for the PROSALES report on the survey.